Name: Yoon Gil-Young (윤길영) Japanese name: Yido Kichi-Ae Age: 11 Gender: Female Occupation: Primary School Student Appearance: Short, black hair, round face, small eyes, innocent looking Location: ChoongChung Province, CheonAn-si, Sung Hwang-dong, Korea (충청남도 천안시 성황동) Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits: Responsible (has to look after 6 siblings), quiet, women-like, mature Family: Parents, 4 younger brothers, 3 younger sisters Education: Chunan YoungJung Elementary School (천안 영정 국민학교) Languages you speak: Korean, Japanese Your main concerns at this time and in life: She has recently heard about young Korean girls being taken away to foreign lands as sex slaves, also known as the "comfort women". She is worried that one day she and her sisters might be taken away.
Diary Entry #1
13th October, 1940 Dear Diary,
Telling the truth, I don’t like my life. I’m only 11, but my life is always so busy- full of work and sadness. As the eldest daughter of the house, I have greater responsibilities and jobs. People say I matured early, and that is probably because of all the responsibilities I am down with. Straight back from school, I rush to out to our farm to help my parents with the work. Despite the fact that we grow great amount of crops, we don’t earn as much money because Japanese people buys it in such big masses at low price, that it leaves us with not much to eat or sell. For our big family, I have to help my parents so that our profit would increase by at least a little bit. I considered our family ‘poor’, but dad told us that we are at least the ‘lucky ones’. He said that other Korean people often don’t even get to have rice. With lacking rice in Korea, the price is too high for most Koreans to afford.
After doing the farm work, while mother cooks dinner and father takes a rest, I have to do my homework, and at the same time take care of my brothers and sisters. I’m telling you, taking care of seven siblings is not an easy job. With everyone crying and arguing, I can hardly even do my homework! Argh, when will they ever grow up? Luckily we don’t get a lot of homework, or else I would sleep past midnight everyday. My day was passing just as usual- tiring and nothing special.
That night, I lied down to sleep, when I heard my parents talk in a low voice next door. I listened carefully because they sounded so serious. They talked about many things- from the things they read on newspapers, to rumors they heard. They said that the Japanese is using young Korean men in the war between Japan and China. They showed anger to why Korean men should fight for Japan, and at the same time showed relief for the fact that my brothers were too young to go to war. They also talked about Japanese people taking Korean girls and women to Japan to give them factory jobs. It is actually good for those women, but my mother said that she doesn’t want to send me or my sisters. Our family needed more hands for the work, and moreover, she said she can’t really trust the Japanese. She says that she has come kind of a bad feeling about it. What bad feelings? Wondering about what it would be like to work in Japan, I fell asleep.
Diary Entry #3
15th October, 1940
Dear Diary,
Today was sort of different from the other days. However, unfortunately, my boring life stayed the same- school, home, work, school home, work.... Well that’s not really the point here. Everyone (as in the teachers) in school were acting differently today. The teachers were behaving unlike their normal selves. They were smiling for the whole day...! ‘What do these weird people have in mind?’ I thought at first. (By the way, hardly anyone in our school likes the sensei.) This was what most of the students first thought, because it is very unlikely to see our teachers smile. And very time they smiled, they had something secret going on in their minds. Today was one of those days. All teachers looked happy and joyful. Seeing them made us wonder and worry about what they had in mind and what will happen to us by the end of the day. We only hoped that nothing bad will happen to us. And guess what? Nothing bad happened! The teachers were smiling at us until the end of the day and they didn’t do anything bad to us! Why were they smiling? I had no clue, but I was happy just for the fact that the teachers were all smiling.
I came home and told my parents about all the teachers being happy today. And this was when I found out why they were smiling for the whole day. My parents told me that it was because Japan had another victory over colonial powers. According to what my parents heard, the Japanese were enjoying their victories over several colonial powers in East Asia, the French in Indochina, the British in Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore, the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, and the Americans in the Philippine Islands.They were happy, but they didn’t celebrate. Why not? Although I try not to think this way, I really can’t help being jealous of Japan. I mean, why can’t Korea be like Japan? Why can’t we be strong and powerful? Why should we be taken under control of the Japanese? Though I’m not a big fan of Japan I can’t stop being jealous.
Diary Entry #2
22nd November, 1940
Dear Diary,
Well, it has been very long since I wrote this diary. Until yesterday, I was too busy with more housework to do than before. How did I suddenly get time to write this diary again? Its because I’m not working in the farm with my parents anymore. In fact, I’m not even going to school anymore. Me and my sister is, at the moment being taken away by the Japanese to work in factories in Japan. Our parents’ concerns have became true. Despite my parents’ strong oppose, me and my sister were pulled out of the house and dragged onto this ship. We were literally forced to go. We heard that there were actually some women who wanted to go. But that’s them- we didn’t want to go. We were still young and we wanted to be with our parents. Why should they force us to go? Why should it only be women and not men, when we will be doing factory work? Won’t men be more efficient? With anger and sadness, all these questions rushed into my head. Thinking about our parents, me and my sister are crying our eyes out. Other people are not crying, but they don’t seem to be too happy either- maybe some.
Ah, I must have fallen asleep crying. After crying and having a sleep, I feel much better than before. It seems like its been quite a while, but we still haven’t arrived. Are we really heading to Japan? According to what I heard from others, it doesn’t take this long to get to Japan. Everything is so suspicious.
Feeling a little better, I started taking interest on the people around me. I asked them how they were made to go to Japan. Some said that they saw the advertisements and wanted to come, and some said that they were persuaded by the Japanese. But most were forced. Looking around, I realized that the whole ship was full of Korean girls and women. There were some girls as young as 11 years old, and some as old as 45. With these many people around, I felt much safer and much more relieved. However, I can’t stop having this bad feeling. Only one question is whirling in my head right now: ‘What is going to happen to us?’
The ship has finally arrived. We are now getting off the ship. Oh, what is going to happen to us?
Diary Entry #4
22nd November, 1940
Dear Diary,
We got off the ship and walked. We walked quite a long time. It was amazing to see Japan for the first time. Everyone was looking around and was curious to see Japan for the first time in their whole entire life. Despite our interests in the country, the Japanese soldiers were pulling us quickly as if we were being chased. While rushing through the streets, I constantly heard people talking amongst themselves. I thought ‘whatever’, but wait a minute. That wasn’t Japanese. As soon as I realized that the people weren’t speaking Japanese, I listened more carefully to verify myself. Oh no, they weren’t speaking Japanese. We are not in Japan! Where are we? Where are we going? Why are we here? Why did they bring us here? With thousands of questions in my head, I tried to calm myself down by thinking that we were just having a visit in this land. But my hope broke apart when we entered a house. It seems like we will be staying here for at least the next few days.
I wanted to ask the Japanese where we were, but I couldn’t. They looked too fierce that its hard to even say a word to them. And I’m pretty scared that they might do something to me if I say something wrong. I kept my mouth shut and just did what they told me to. We all went to bed and fell fast asleep due to the long journey we had today. However, I couldn’t get to sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about our future. Would they sell us to other people? Will we even get a factory job? Thinking that we were all asleep, two Japanese soldiers started to talk about how they pity us. As Korean was forbidden, everyone had to speak Japanese. Therefore it wasn’t too hard to understand what they were saying. They said that we are stupid for not realizing that we are not in Japan, and that we are in China. They mentioned that they pity us, for what will be happening to us in a few days. What? What is going to happen to us? With a complicated mind, I thought of our parents. Mom, Dad, what is going to happen to us?
Name: Yoon Gil-Young (윤길영)
Japanese name: Yido Kichi-Ae
Age: 11
Gender: Female
Occupation: Primary School Student
Appearance: Short, black hair, round face, small eyes, innocent looking
Location: ChoongChung Province, CheonAn-si, Sung Hwang-dong, Korea (충청남도 천안시 성황동)
Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits: Responsible (has to look after 6 siblings), quiet, women-like, mature
Family: Parents, 4 younger brothers, 3 younger sisters
Education: Chunan YoungJung Elementary School (천안 영정 국민학교)
Languages you speak: Korean, Japanese
Your main concerns at this time and in life: She has recently heard about young Korean girls being taken away to foreign lands as sex slaves, also known as the "comfort women". She is worried that one day she and her sisters might be taken away.
Diary Entry #1
13th October, 1940
Telling the truth, I don’t like my life. I’m only 11, but my life is always so busy- full of work and sadness. As the eldest daughter of the house, I have greater responsibilities and jobs. People say I matured early, and that is probably because of all the responsibilities I am down with. Straight back from school, I rush to out to our farm to help my parents with the work. Despite the fact that we grow great amount of crops, we don’t earn as much money because Japanese people buys it in such big masses at low price, that it leaves us with not much to eat or sell. For our big family, I have to help my parents so that our profit would increase by at least a little bit. I considered our family ‘poor’, but dad told us that we are at least the ‘lucky ones’. He said that other Korean people often don’t even get to have rice. With lacking rice in Korea, the price is too high for most Koreans to afford.
After doing the farm work, while mother cooks dinner and father takes a rest, I have to do my homework, and at the same time take care of my brothers and sisters. I’m telling you, taking care of seven siblings is not an easy job. With everyone crying and arguing, I can hardly even do my homework! Argh, when will they ever grow up? Luckily we don’t get a lot of homework, or else I would sleep past midnight everyday. My day was passing just as usual- tiring and nothing special.
That night, I lied down to sleep, when I heard my parents talk in a low voice next door. I listened carefully because they sounded so serious. They talked about many things- from the things they read on newspapers, to rumors they heard. They said that the Japanese is using young Korean men in the war between Japan and China. They showed anger to why Korean men should fight for Japan, and at the same time showed relief for the fact that my brothers were too young to go to war. They also talked about Japanese people taking Korean girls and women to Japan to give them factory jobs. It is actually good for those women, but my mother said that she doesn’t want to send me or my sisters. Our family needed more hands for the work, and moreover, she said she can’t really trust the Japanese. She says that she has come kind of a bad feeling about it. What bad feelings? Wondering about what it would be like to work in Japan, I fell asleep.
Diary Entry #3
15th October, 1940
Dear Diary,
Today was sort of different from the other days. However, unfortunately, my boring life stayed the same- school, home, work, school home, work.... Well that’s not really the point here. Everyone (as in the teachers) in school were acting differently today. The teachers were behaving unlike their normal selves. They were smiling for the whole day...! ‘What do these weird people have in mind?’ I thought at first. (By the way, hardly anyone in our school likes the sensei.) This was what most of the students first thought, because it is very unlikely to see our teachers smile. And very time they smiled, they had something secret going on in their minds. Today was one of those days. All teachers looked happy and joyful. Seeing them made us wonder and worry about what they had in mind and what will happen to us by the end of the day. We only hoped that nothing bad will happen to us. And guess what? Nothing bad happened! The teachers were smiling at us until the end of the day and they didn’t do anything bad to us! Why were they smiling? I had no clue, but I was happy just for the fact that the teachers were all smiling.
I came home and told my parents about all the teachers being happy today. And this was when I found out why they were smiling for the whole day. My parents told me that it was because Japan had another victory over colonial powers. According to what my parents heard, the Japanese were enjoying their victories over several colonial powers in East Asia, the French in Indochina, the British in Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore, the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, and the Americans in the Philippine Islands.They were happy, but they didn’t celebrate. Why not? Although I try not to think this way, I really can’t help being jealous of Japan. I mean, why can’t Korea be like Japan? Why can’t we be strong and powerful? Why should we be taken under control of the Japanese? Though I’m not a big fan of Japan I can’t stop being jealous.
Diary Entry #2
22nd November, 1940
Dear Diary,
Well, it has been very long since I wrote this diary. Until yesterday, I was too busy with more housework to do than before. How did I suddenly get time to write this diary again? Its because
Ah, I must have fallen asleep crying. After crying and having a sleep, I feel much better than before. It seems like its been quite a while, but we still haven’t arrived. Are we really heading to Japan? According to what I heard from others, it doesn’t take this long to get to Japan. Everything is so suspicious.
Feeling a little better, I started taking interest on the people around me. I asked them how they were made to go to Japan. Some said that they saw the advertisements and wanted to come, and some said that they were persuaded by the Japanese. But most were forced. Looking around, I realized that the whole ship was full of Korean girls and women. There were some girls as young as 11 years old, and some as old as 45. With these many people around, I felt much safer and much more relieved. However, I can’t stop having this bad feeling. Only one question is whirling in my head right now: ‘What is going to happen to us?’
The ship has finally arrived. We are now getting off the ship. Oh, what is going to happen to us?
Diary Entry #4
22nd November, 1940
Dear Diary,
We got off the ship and walked. We walked quite a long time. It was amazing to see Japan for the first time. Everyone was looking around and was curious to see Japan for the first time in their whole entire life. Despite our interests in the country, the Japanese soldiers were pulling us quickly as if we were being chased. While rushing through the streets, I constantly heard people talking amongst themselves. I thought ‘whatever’, but wait a minute. That wasn’t Japanese. As soon as I realized that the people weren’t speaking Japanese, I listened more carefully to verify myself. Oh no, they weren’t speaking Japanese. We are not in Japan! Where are we? Where are we going? Why are we here? Why did they bring us here? With thousands of questions in my head, I tried to calm myself down by thinking that we were just having a visit in this land. But my hope broke apart when we entered a house. It seems like we will be staying here for at least the next few days.
I wanted to ask the Japanese where we were, but I couldn’t. They looked too fierce that its hard to even say a word to them. And I’m pretty scared that they might do something to me if I say something wrong. I kept my mouth shut and just did what they told me to. We all went to bed and fell fast asleep due to the long journey we had today. However, I couldn’t get to sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about our future. Would they sell us to other people? Will we even get a factory job? Thinking that we were all asleep, two Japanese soldiers started to talk about how they pity us. As Korean was forbidden, everyone had to speak Japanese. Therefore it wasn’t too hard to understand what they were saying. They said that we are stupid for not realizing that we are not in Japan, and that we are in China. They mentioned that they pity us, for what will be happening to us in a few days. What? What is going to happen to us? With a complicated mind, I thought of our parents. Mom, Dad, what is going to happen to us?
Images:
- http://image.aladdin.co.kr/Community/mypaper/pimg_717978153536175.jpg (http://blog.aladdin.co.kr/bluefox?CommunityType=AllView&page=6)
- http://distribution.asianamericanmedia.org/wp-content/stills/films/full/186.jpg
- http://students.umf.maine.edu/~welchca/ComfortWomenTruck.jpg
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